Month: March 2006

Posted on

Hoodlum slashes cabbie; cabbie robs old lady; sniper guns down cyclist

A wave of curious crimes is sweeping over our area. On 19 March a thin Asian hoodlum who seemed to be about 17 years old slashed a cabbie with a knife after getting in on Victoria St, prompting calls for the installation of security screens. Down the road in Thomastown Kathleen Kelsen, an 84 year old woman, probably supports those calls after a cabbie stole $400 from her by convincing her that others had used her taxi card without her knowledge, but that she was responsible for the bill. And in Northcote, Melinda Zygarlicki was shot in the lungs by an unknown sniper whilst crossing a bridge over Merri Creek near Rushall Station on the Merri Bike Path. She thought she had been branded by a tennis ball, or that a bird had flown into her, and rode the rest of the way home. The Herald Sun seems to know something Melinda doesn’t since they are sure that the sniper was a “gunman“. For the photo, thanks to Puss in Boots, a Kuwaiti girl obsessed with Manga.

Posted on

I went for a walk on Johnston St

And I liked this barber’s shop window.

Having never previously meandered along Johnston St by Shank’s pony, I had thought it to be one of the world’s most ugly thoroughfares. I found the details I spotted on foot charming. It has other things going for it once it arrives in the ‘wood too: Ilk Bar, which used to be a milk bar and the emblem of which is an elk, and Kooshi (formerly Good Morning Captain). Back in Abbotsford proper is this nameless place, which I think must be the one that the Abbotsford psychiatrist I met at a party the other day swore was a perfect but overlooked place to have weekend breakfasts. Some other photos from the walk are here.

Posted on

how to find accommodation

Here is a helpful tip. It has nothing to do with Abbotsford, so let me tell you this first. A Rough Guide author I met at a party told me that the Abbotsford Inn (now the City Edge Motel) in Langridge St, far too close to Hoddle St and our only non-pub accommodation as far as I know, was one of the worst hotels he had ever stayed in. He had just finished a guide on a South East Asian country. The internet, where he got onto the accommodation, suggests they charge $145 a night on weekends.

Ah the hazards of choosing hotels from afar. You go with the place that sounds brilliant in the 18 month old Lonely Planet only to find them resting heavily on their laurels, or to find that you are at a squat with a check-in desk also named the Original Old Yogi Inn which pays the rickshaw twice the commission of the original Original Old Yogi Inn: the Lonely Planet Effect. So you turn to the internet in search of that overlooked little gem. Continue reading “how to find accommodation”